Flash Flood — Bastrop, Texas

2015-10-30 · near Elysium, Bastrop, Texas

Event narrative

Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that caused flash flooding leading to high water rescues on Tucker Hill Ln. near the Bastrop and Travis County line. Damage assessment from Bastrop County indicated nearly 60 homes destroyed, with 40 also sustaining major damage. Overall more than 100 homes were flooded or affected by the flooding many of them along Dry Creek near the Bastrop/Travis County line. Debris line showed that water was flowing over Highway 71 near this area. Other homes experienced flooding as the Colorado River went into flood due to all the rainfall that fell upstream of Bastrop. County monetary losses are estimated to be 2.1 million dollars to infrastructure, this does not include insured/uninsured losses to homes.

Wider weather episode

A warm front combined with an upper level trough and deep moisture produced heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms across much of South Central Texas on October 30th and 31st. Damage surveys confirmed four tornadoes. Along with the severe weather, excessive rainfall resulted in widespread flash flooding along the Interstate 35 corridor Friday morning. Rainfall rates on the order of 5-7 inches per hour fell from San Marcos up through South Austin. Historic rainfall totals fell at the Austin Airport where over 1 foot of rain fell within a few hours time. 12.49 inches of rain for Oct 30 was the most ever in one day for Austin. Other daily rainfall totals exceeded 15 inches. Record flooding occurred in southern Travis County and portions of Hays County. River and creek flooding was extensive across Hays, Travis, Bastrop, Caldwell, and Comal Counties. Many areas, especially in San Marcos, compared this flooding to the record flooding of Oct 1998. Estimates of 2000 homes were flooded in or near this I-35 corridor, many of them destroyed or sustained Major damage. Estimates of insured losses were not available as of this writing, but the counties experienced monetary losses in the tens of millions.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.1629, -97.5279)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 605471. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.